Music promoter Vince Power has died aged 76.
Power was a major figure in live music from the 1980s until the 2000s. At its commercial peak, his Mean Fiddler Group was involved with festivals including Reading & Leeds, Glastonbury and Phoenix Festival.
The Mean Fiddler and events group was launched in the early 1980s by Power, who had moved to London as a teenager from Ireland.
The Mean Fiddler venue in north London was a fixture from 1982 to 2002.
Power was one of the most prominent promoters in the UK and had a reputation as a maverick and risk-taker.
Following the sale of his live music business in 2005 to Clear Channel, which then included Live Nation, Power was not active in the UK festival business for three years under the terms of the deal and he became involved in Benicàssim festival.
Power was made a CBE in 2006 for services to music.
"I am the last person I thought would be awarded it," he said at the time. "It's a nice recognition even though a lot of people are more deserving of it. But I am very happy and proud."
The Hop Farm Festival launched in Kent in 2008 with Neil Young headlining and returned in subsequent years with acts including Bob Dylan and Van Morrison.
However, in 2014 Power was found to have been operating without a PRS licence and was banned from staging live events until his licences were up to date. He responded at the time to the High Court ruling by saying he was “angry and disappointed” over the decision and described a “long strained relationship” with PRS.
The company, Music Festivals Group, called in administrators in 2012.
In recent years, Vince Power Music Group has operated small venues in the capital including PowerHaus (formally Dingwalls), The Fiddler, Nells and Subterania.
Photo: David M. Benett/Getty Images (2022)
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